Currently, the Bulgarian hospitals bear the full burden of the crisis, this country’s Chief State Health Inspector Dr. Angel Kunchev said at a briefing at the Ministry of Health building. Only three Bulgarian districts have remained outside the red color-code areas that have more than 120 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people – Vidin, Dobrich and Silistra. “I do not share the optimism of the government that we will achieve good results with the current Covid-19 morbidity rate”, Dr. Angel Kunchev said and announced his proposals for the introduction of new restrictive measures.

No more than half of all employees should be allowed to work in the office; working hours of restaurants and cafes should be limited; extracurricular activities should be ceased; all universities except for the medical universities should switch over to distance learning, some of the new proposals envisage. Another idea envisages that people aged 65 and above do their shopping between 8.00 am and 10.00 am and clients from this age group are not allowed in shops in other time intervals.

The health authorities also came up with the proposal that medics are released from quarantine, in order to be able to return to work, if their PCR tests on the third day of quarantine is negative. The competent health authorities also insist that Bulgaria’s health minister obtains extraordinary powers to second different medical professionals to hospitals, including health specialists from the pre-hospital system.

“We are entering an extremely serious phase of the coronavirus epidemic and it is not time for celebrations”, Bulgaria’s Minister of Health Kostadin Angelov said at the briefing and added that wearing face masks indoors saves lives. He called on the people to avoid nonessential travel and gatherings at public places.

More than 8,000 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Bulgaria in the recent days and the total number of Covid-19 cases rose to 64,591. A total of 3,191 patients are currently receiving medical treatment in hospitals, 329 of whom in intensive care units.

“Bulgaria has everything necessary to meet the needs during the spread of Covid-19”, this country’s minister of health said further and specified that there are enough quantities of personal protective equipment. Moreover, this country is expected to receive another 1,700 vials of Remdisivir today. 4,300 more vials of this medication are to be delivered next week. In Minister Angelov’s view, Covid-19 vaccine will be available in April next year at the earliest.

Everyone who feels symptoms of coronavirus infection and needs immediate medical assistance has the right to seek medical aid in any hospital. All hospitals are obliged to provide patients with the necessary medical aid, Minister Angelov underlined.

The 14-day morbidity in Bulgaria is 388 infected per 100,000 people, while the 14-day death rate is 5 people per 100,000, Dr. Angel Kunchev informed. Bulgaria ranks 17^th in Europe in terms of Covid-19 morbidity and 10^th in terms of Covid-19 mortality.

Bulgarian citizens continue to seek medical assistance late. As a result, more young people suffer severe symptoms of Covid-19 and more young patients become victims of this infection, Minister Kostadin Angelov explained. He called on the people to avoid self-medication and contact their general practitioners when they feel the first symptoms of high body temperature, cough or loss of taste and smell.

Compiled by: Diana Tsankova

English version: Kostadin Atanasov